Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	affection_n	great_a	love_n	4,177	5	5.2173	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44148	The true reformation of manners, or, The nature and qualifications of true zeal in a sermon preach'd in the parish church of Bridgewater : occasion'd by a more than ordinary concourse of dissenters there, upon that pretence / by Matth. Hole ...	Hole, Matthew, 1639 or 40-1730.	1699 (1699)	Wing H2414; ESTC R8060	15,367	34

Honour of our SAVIOUR if ever we hope to be sav'd by him He that denies me before Men saith Christ himself him will I deny before my Father that is in Heaven Now to disown the Truths of the Gospel or to refuse to appear in the defense of them when call'd in question is indeed no better than to deny him And what can such expect but to be for ever disown'd and deny'd by him at the last day Wherefore 't is both the Duty and Interest of all that are called Christians to be zealous for the Honour of Christ to vindicate his Truths and to adorn his Doctrine with a holy Conversation Thirdly To be zealous for the Church of GOD is to be zealously affected in a good thing And that as the Church is sometimes taken for the House of God and likewise for the orderly Constitution of Divine Worship perform'd in it both which are proper Matter to employ our Zeal That ardent Love we owe to God requires us to love the things of God and to have a due regard to all that belongs to him among which we are commanded to hallow his Sabbath and to reverence his Sanctuary David tells us that the Zeal of God's house had even consumed him Psal 69.9 He was so passionately affected towards the reverence and decency of those Places that he thought he could not better shew his Honour to God than by reverencing the place where his Honour dwells After that we read what time care and cost King Solomon bestow'd in building and beautifying the Temple by which he at once erected an Habitation for the Glory of his Maker and a lasting Monument of his own Honour But lest any should take this only for a piece of Old-Testament Zeal we find our Blessed Saviour so zealous for the honour of the Temple that he never discover'd a higher act of Indignation than against the Prophaners of it for himself whipp'd the Buyers and Sellers out of it who had made the House of Prayer a Den of Thieves overturning the Tables of the Money-changers and the Seats of them that sold Doves and that with an Indignation too so much beside his ordinary temper that the Disciples could not but call to mind and apply to him what was prophesied of him The Zeal of thy house hath eaten me up By this great example we learn that a true Christian Zeal may be well employ'd about the purifying of God's house and securing it from all profanation Moreover we find the Apostles extremely zealous for the Peace and Unity of the Church as also for the comeliness order and reverence of the publick Worship us'd in it So that to be zealous against Sacriledge which is the polluting of God's holy Temple and likewise against Schism which is the dividing the Body of Christ is a pious well-grounded and commendable Zeal Fourthly To be zealous in the Cause and for the Honor of God's Ministers is to be zealously affected in a good thing for these belong to him as his Ambassadors and therefore are to be lov'd and treated accordingly Let men so account of us saith the Apostle as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God and for that reason to be counted worthy of double honor The Kindness or Contempt shew'd to them redounds to him that sends them for He that despises you saith Christ despises me and he that despises me despiseth him that sent me and therefore our Zeal for Christ and his Truth may and ought to be exprest by espousing the Cause of his Ministers especially when the great Contempt of Religion hath occasion'd too great a Contempt of the Dispensers of it Lastly To be zealous for the People of God that is for their Happiness and Salvation is to be zealously affected in a good thing Next to the Glory of God and our own Salvation we are to tender the Welfare and Salvation of others and this is to be done by our good Wishes hearty Prayers and best Endeavours for them we find Moses so far transported with love and desire towards the Israelites that he prefer'd their publick Happiness and Salvation before the private welfare of his own Soul praying thus in their behalf either blot out their Sins or blot out my name out of the book that thou hast written Ex. 32.32 Under the like transport of Affection we find St. Paul declaring that his Hearts desire and Prayer unto God was that Israel might be saved withal wishing himself accursed from Christ for his Brethren and Kinsfolk according to the flesh Rom. 9.3 which great Examples recommend to us if not so high a pitch of Zeal yet a most ardent love and desire of doing good to all men and especially to use our best endeavours to save their Souls which is the greatest good that we can do them herein we shall tread in the steps of our Blessed Saviour who went up and down doing good both to the Souls and Bodies of Men which is such a noble generous and beneficial piece of Charity as very well deserves our utmost Zeal and Vigour In a word To be zealous in the Cause of Religion against Atheism and Profaneness to be zealous for the Word of God against Deism and Infidelity for the House and Worship of God against Schism and Sacriledge for the People of God against Seducers that lay in wait to deceive is to be zealously affected in good things and is highly becoming all such as are called by the Name of Christ and would advance the Honour and Interest of Christianity which things require not only unwearied Diligence but undaunted Courage and Resolution to effect them and therefore to engage and encourage you to set about them I shall proceed to the Third thing to be consider'd in our Text viz. The goodness and excellency of true Zeal from those words It is good to be zealously affected c. 'T is good to our selves for thereby we become like unto GOD and imitate the Divine Goodness 't is good unto others for as one Coal kindles another so one man's Zeal helps to quicken another's and blows up both into a bright and useful Flame 't is good to a whole Church and Country who share in the benefit and reap the fruits of a well-guided Zeal yea 't is good in all the fences of Goodness for 't is Bonum honestum utile jucundum 't is pious profitable and pleasant 't is the top and perfection of all Vertue the beauty strength and ornament of all Religion and adds as I may say a Grace to all other Graces Indeed what Heat is to the Body that is Zeal to the Soul the very life health and vigour of it the source of all its activity and motion and as the Body without Heat is but a heavy lumpish Carcase so the Soul without Zeal is sluggish and unactive and little better than dead in trespasses and sins But the Goodness of Zeal may be best seen in the good Effects

and Anger together with those intermediate Passions of Desire Joy Indignation and the like that partake of both The first and great Ingredient of Zeal is Love for none can be Zealously affected to any thing which he doth not truly love and where that is 't will draw after it a desire of attaining and enjoying it and according to the degrees of love will the desire encrease and improve into longings and impatience Again Zeal is accompanied with Joy and Delight in pleasing and possessing what it makes after and where the Object is infinite as when 't is plac'd on GOD it advances into Extasy and Rapture Furthermore Anger is an Ingredient of Zeal which sets the Soul against whatever opposes the thing Beloved and proportionable to the opposition does the Anger encrease arising sometimes to Wrath and Indignation and upon any frustration 't is attended with Grief and Sorrow Thus is Zeal compounded of various and different Passions upon the well or ill tempering and mixing whereof does the goodness or badness of Zeal depend That Zeal that hath the greatest mixture of the mild loving and charitable Affections is commonly the best that wherein the harsh soure and hot Passions are most predominant is very often inordinate And that where the angry Passions not only exceed but exclude the more calm and benign Ones is generally sinful Moreover Zeal is not only a composition of sundry Passions but a high degree and intention of them and bespeaks not barely the reality but a fervency of Affection 't is such a warmth of Mind as influences the whole Man and renders all the Powers of the Soul more vigorous and lively in its desires and prosecutions and so 't is oppos'd to Coldness and Lukewarmness So that true Zeal is a gracious constitution of the whole Mind and is rather a constellation of Graces than one particular Grace 't is what Health is to Life the spring of all its activity and motion and resembles that Heroick Vertue describ'd by the Moralists which is not so much a distinct Vertue of its self as the highest pitch and eminence of all other Vertues From this brief description of Zeal we may learn what it is to be Zealously affected namely to have the Mind warmly stirring or moving in earnest desires and an eager pursuit of some suitable and desirable Object and consequently two things must concur to this zealous Affection viz. Light in the head and Heat in the heart First To be Zealously affected implies light and knowledge in the Head for Ignoti nulla Cupido None can affect that of which he hath no knowledge Light is the Director of Zeal without which 't will mistake its Object and necessarily go awry 'T is a blind Zeal that is void of Knowledge and therefore what Light is to the Eye that Knowledge is to the Soul it shews its way and guides all its operations Again Secondly To be Zealously affected imports not only light in the Head but heat in the Heart and therefore 't is often compar'd to Fire whose property it is to warm and enliven St. Paul stiles it a fervency of Spirit Rom. 12.11 which signifies such an inward warmth of Mind as cherishes in it a spiritual Life quickens Vertue and makes us grow in Grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ In short Zeal is a vehement Affection or a strong Byass and Propensity of the Soul towards its Object and to be Zealously affected is to be carried out with earnest Desires and Endeavours after it not without some Hatred Trouble and Indignation at whatsoever does hinder or oppose it This is the Nature of Zeal But How must it be qualify'd that it may be good to be thus Zealously affected Why our Text mention two Qualifications to make it so The one respects the Time of its continuance it must be always the other the Object it must be in a good thing First To be Zealously affected aright it must be always not now and then by sits and starts but keeping up an ardent flame of Love still burning in our Breasts The Apostle supposes here that these Galatians were well enough affected whilst he was present with them but it did not continue in his absence it soon wore off and therefore he wills them to be Zealously affected always They who still frequent and keep close to the Worship and Communion of the Church may be well enough suppos'd to be Zealously affected towards it but they who come to it only to serve a turn may be justly thought otherwise yea when they who seldom or never attend the publick Worship of a sudden on a particular occasion flock in great Numbers to it and with that Formality and Appearance too as if with Jehu they would alarm Spectators to come and see their Zeal for the Lord of Hosts This is very suspicious and looks more like the result of Contrivance and Design than the effect of true and sound Religion For true Zeal is permanent and lasting it proceeds from a vital Principle within which will maintain a kindly and constant heat in the Soul 't is not like the fits of an Ague that come and go again but like the Altar Fires that were always kept burning or the Vestal Flames that never went out 't is true indeed it may and does admit of intermissions but 't is never extinguish'd but like the natural heat of the Heart 't will abide as long as Life continues All that seeming Zeal of the Hypocrite that so often wears off and grows cold again is but false Fire 't is only a painted and no real Flame If you observe it you shall find some Men at some Times and in some religious Exercises exceeding warm and zealous their Affections seem all in a flame and themselves under the transports of Divine Love who yet in a little time grow cold again and have no appearance of Life or Heat left in them These are only paroxysms of Zeal and the preternatural heats of the Hypocrite's Devotion whereas true Zeal is ever more uniform and lasting and where the Spirit is truly touch'd with this Coal from the Altar 't will preserve an habitual constant light and heat in the Soul To this end Zeal must be sober and well temper'd not over hot and violent for Nullum violentum est perpetuum No violent thing is lasting Such transports spend the Spirits too fast to continue long Nature struggles under any violence and labours to be eas'd and rid of it and Religion too groans under such violent fits of Zeal and cannot long continue in such extreams and therefore such transient fiery heats are far from the sobriety of Religion and the temper of true Devotion The Prophet resembles some Men's Righteousness to the Morning Cloud and the early Dew that soon passeth away and we may liken others to a flash of Lightning which gives a short blaze but is quickly out The Apostle observes of some of these Galatians